Unpleasant procedures are a normal part of hospital experience for both the diagnostic and treatment phases of health care. The overall purpose of this proposal is to study ways to decrease patient distress and increase patient persistance during these uncomfortable procedures. The proposal focuses on patient preparation in terms of different types of information, opportunities for participation, and relaxation. Participating patients are viewed in terms of their preference for control as well as perceived responsibility for unpleasant experiences. These variables will be studied in terms of their impact on distress reduction, coping behavior, moods, pain, discomfort, and willingness to participate in the procedure again. Five experiments have been designed and involve patients undergoing intravenous pyelogram (IVP), or barium enema (BE) x-rays, or bowel preparation for either of these tests. Experiment 1 involves IVP patients, and tests the effects of control preference and preparatory information on coping behaviors and distress reduction. Experiments 2 and 3 involve patients undergoing bowel preparation. Experiment 2 will test the effects of control preference and preparatory information on avoidance behavior and distress reduction. Experiment 3 will test the effects of control preference, type of participation, and perceived responsibility on distress reduction. Experiments 4 and 5 will involve BE patients. Experiment 4 will test the effects of control preference and type of relaxation on distress reduction. Experiment 5 will test the effects of type of relaxation and type of preparatory information on immediate and delayed distress reduction. A maximum of 600 patients are expected to participate in the experiments over a 4 year period. Analysis of data will include planned comparisons for each experiment. Results are expected to show how even minimal amounts of information and very brief interventions can have positive patient outcomes when combined with guidelines about individual differences.